


I woke up this evening, A splitting headache went back and forth inside my head

by MageOfLight



Series: MSA AUs [3]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Magical Memory Loss, Mystery is secretive to no one's benefit, Vivi struggling with her memory loss, physical and mental trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28785168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageOfLight/pseuds/MageOfLight
Summary: Memories, or the lack-there-of can be painful. She tries to remember what she cannot on her own.
Relationships: Arthur & Lewis, Arthur & Vivi, Lewis & Vivi, Vivi & Mystery
Series: MSA AUs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095713
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	I woke up this evening, A splitting headache went back and forth inside my head

**Author's Note:**

> Title Lyrics from "Ghost On A Record" by Neko.
> 
> This is actually something I've been sitting on since mid-December. I'd started writing it for the memory prompt but sort of lost focus on what I wanted for it. I just recently completed it to satisfaction, so here we go. lol

Her head hurt. That was the only thing she could think of at that moment. Her head _ached_ so bad she wanted to scream. But she couldn't. Something was... missing? Yes, missing. But what? She couldn't say.  
  
There was a dog. A dog that stayed with her and he was important, but her head hurt too much to remember why he was important. Her dog? Maybe her dog? Her dog, yes. Mystery. The information clicked and her head hurt less.  
  
The dog took her to a boy. A boy who slept and slept and slept. He was broken. Did his head hurt too? Was that why he slept? Perhaps. Maybe if she slept, her head would hurt less when she woke. A nice lady took her back to bed and she slept.  
  
But she didn't sleep like the boy. The boy kept sleeping. The nice lady said he was very sick. A fever. Fevers were bad.  
  
She slept and came back day after day, but the boy didn't wake. He grew pale, sweat beading his forehead.  
  
Her dog didn't take her to see the boy. Her dog went to see the boy by himself, and when he took her to see the boy again, the boy was awake. Still pale, but not sleeping. Not dying. She smiled. "Arthur! You're awake!" Ah. Yes, the boy's name was Arthur. Something else clicked into place and again, her head hurt less.  
  
The boy looked sad every time he saw her and that made something pull. He was important to her and she was making him sad. The missing arm made him sad, too. And something else. Something he said that made her head scream and made her disappear. She didn't like disappearing. He didn't like it either. He stopped saying the thing that made her disappear.  
  
Her head hurt less.  
  
Eventually, it stopped hurting ~~(no it didn't, something's missing still!)~~ and Vivi felt like herself after such an extended time. She was discharged from the hospital and thankfully, Arthur was not far behind her in that. After a few days to settle back into normal life (Vivi was super glad she hadn't lost her job after several months in the hospital), Arthur asked her if she wanted to go to dinner. She enthusiastically agreed. They met up and -  
  
Vivi came back to herself, standing on her parents' front step, Arthur talking a mile a minute at her mom in a panicked tone. "Arthur? Wha-? Weren't we... going to dinner? How'd we get here?"  
  
"Vi! You- I- I took you to Pepper Par-"  
  
When had she climbed into bed? And in her old room in her parents' place, to boot? Vivi blinked slowly, staring with confusion at the glowing snowflakes that she had on her ceiling. This was getting a little ridiculous. How was she just... losing time like this? She sat up, eyeing Mystery who was sleeping, curled up in a ball at the end of her bed. "Mystery?" The 'dog' lifted his head, blinking at her in the dim lighting. "What happened?"  
  
<"I can't say for certain, only that you reverted to the state you were in when you were first hospitalized upon Arthur taking you to dinner. He was in a panic, thinking he broke you again,"> Mystery replied in a low whisper. He was her family's best-kept secret. Not even Arthur and - and who? Why had she thought, for a second, there was someone else that she would have liked to share Mystery's secret with? She was only that close with Arthur.  
  
Her head hurt.

\----

The ghost mansion was so hecking _cool_! Vivi couldn't help her excitement, even as they were being chased by pink sheet ghosts. Which, in itself, was kinda funny. They were so cute, even with their sharp fangs, that it was hard to be properly scared of them. Well, at least for her. Arthur was _terrified_ , and so she ran with him. They ran and ran and eventually, they were cornered. This ghost wasn't so cute. They were really hecking cool and fancy, but they looked like they were trying to get to Arthur. She impulsively lept between the scary murder ghost and Arthur, making the ghost stop. They hesitated, then slowly, the ghost's anchor floated towards her.  
  
"V-vivi..." Arthur whispered urgently, tugging at her shoulder as she reached out for the golden heart. There was something... She'd apologize to Arthur later, but she shrugged off his hand, taking the offered anchor.  
  
It was like a shock straight to the brain. Her head _HURT_ and she screamed. Or at least she thought she did. Memories rushed back, clicking into place harshly. It wasn't gentle and she felt like each memory was burning her alive. When she was finally aware again, Arthur was petting her hair, the fingers of his right hand carding through and pausing to massage her temples for a moment on every pass. Her head tingled, but no longer hurt. "...Lewis... that was... I can't believe I-..."  
  
"Y-you remember Lewis?" Arthur asked, shocked and sounding like he was on the verge of tears. He sounded happy about it, despite that waver in his voice. "D-do you... do you ha-have any i-idea where... where he might be...?" Vivi's eyes widened. What? Why was Arthur asking that? "We... we need to f-find him, Vi."  
  
"You... what are you saying, Arthur? Lewis is... he's _dead_. That was Lew chasing us- chasing _you_ ," Vivi whispered, sitting up and opening her hand that was still tightly clasped around the locket. Arthur looked shocked and like he was ready to deny the possibility that the murderous ghost could be Lewis. If she hadn't been holding his anchor, if she hadn't gotten her memories back just by touching it, she would have wanted to refuse reality, too. "...I saw him die. I... I think his dying wish must have been to take that memory from me, but he took too much..."  
  
"No. No, that's im-impossible. I- There's no way..." Arthur whimpered, tears falling rapidly. Vivi, choking on her own tears, reached out and pulled Arthur into a hug, letting him sob into her shoulder. Clearly, Lewis had stolen Arthur's memories, too. But why rid him of the memories, then try to kill Arthur? It made no sense. She needed to get to the bottom of this.  
  
"Arthur... I want you to take Mystery and go back to the van. Lew's not going to hurt me and I think we need to find out what happened and why he's trying to hurt _you_ ," Vivi said quietly. Arthur sniffled, pulling back and shooting Mystery a nervous look. It had been this way since they woke in the hospital, but they had no time for Arthur to be afraid of her kitsune companion right now. Lewis was stirring. She could feel the pulse of his anchor in her hand strengthing. "Don't argue. Just go."  
  
"O-okay. C-c-come on, boy..." Arthur said shakily. Mystery, ever the obedient 'dog', stood and trotted after Arthur, keeping a careful distance.  
  
Arthur was out of sight less than a minute before Lewis' anchor rose out of her hand, the ghost taking form in a blaze of pink fire. Vivi grinned, climbing to her feet and launching herself into his arms. "Lew! Man, I didn't even remember you and I still missed you!" she chirped, distracting the ghost from looking around.  
  
"Vivi..." The ghost, Lewis, wrapped his huge arms around her, gentle as ever. "He didn't hurt you, did he?"  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Arthur."  
  
"...Artie? Are you kidding me, Lew?" Vivi pulled back a little, staring up into Lewis' skeletal face in surprise. "Lewis, Arthur wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone me," she said, resting a hand on his cheekbone. Lewis laughed sharply, hair flaring up.  
  
"Oh, you'd think so! And I thought the same damn thing until he pushed me to my death!" he snarled.  
  
"...what? Lewis... Arthur would never have done that. He loves us both. I didn't even remember you until now, but he did and he's been wearing himself to the bone looking for you. Look. Maybe you're remembering what happened wrong? You fell, right? Could he have been trying to save you from falling? Maybe there was something else in that cave. Arthur lost his arm then, too. Nearly bled to death and I'm still not sure how I managed to get him to the hospital in time when my head was such a disaster," Vivi said in a rush, trying to get Lewis to calm down and think. There was no way in the world that Arthur could have ever hurt either of them. Not on purpose. Vivi refused to believe that Arthur, who couldn't even kill a bug, would have the guts to kill his best friend, even if he did want Lewis dead.  
  
And then, why would Arthur be looking so determinedly for Lewis if he had hated the younger man enough to want to kill him. No, none of this made sense and Vivi _would_ get to the bottom of it before either of her boys got hurt further. "Fine. I'll talk to him. But if I'm not satisfied with the answers..." Lewis trailed off, letting the threat hang in the air. Vivi fought back a cringe, worried that this wasn't going to end well.  
  
"Okay. I sent Artie back to the van with Mystery. Come on, Lew. Let's go." Vivi smiled, holding out her hand. Lewis' dwarfed hers in an absolutely comical fashion and she knew she'd be laughing about it later, but for now, she led the way back outside where Arthur was waiting. He was sitting next to the van, face buried in his knees and shoulders shaking with sobs. He didn't even care that Mystery was close enough to touch, looking about as miserable as Arthur sounded. And looking guilty to boot. Vivi put that thought aside, resolving to ask the fake dog about it later when they had a moment to themselves.  
  
When she glanced back at Lewis, the ghost looked more like his living self, a confused look on his face. "Lew?"  
  
"I know you said he lost his arm, but..." Lewis replied slowly, voice so quiet Vivi could barely hear him. His eyes were locked on Arthur's robot arm. "How'd he lose it?"  
  
"Dunno. He doesn't remember." She aimed him with a serious look. "He barely remembers going into that cave at all, so I'm not sure what answers you'll be able to get from him. Doctors said it was trauma from whatever attacked him."  
  
"Attacked."  
  
"Yeah. His arm was ripped right off," Vivi said with a sigh. "Just... stay here for now. I'll see if I can get him talking and you can listen in. Is there anything you want me to ask him for you?"  
  
"Ask him why he killed me."  
  
"...right." She shook her head, then approached Arthur. "Artie? How are you holding up?" Arthur hunched in on himself further, fingers squeezing his robotic arm. "Yeah, I think I get that. I can't believe I forgot Lewis... I can't believe he's..." The blunette sighed again, leaning against Arthur's side as she sat down next to him. "I got him to calm down... but Artie, he told me some things... He said you killed him."  
  
Arthur jerked violently, recoiling to stare at Vivi in shock and horror. "Wh-what?! I wouldn't h-h-have! Why does he- does he think I-?!"  
  
Vivi smiled sadly. "He thinks you did. I don't know why and you don't remember what happened... All I can think is that there was something else in the cave and maybe he misinterpreted what had actually happened... but I wasn't up there with you two, so I don't know, either..." She sighed, leaning back against the van. "Maybe Lewis can help jog your memory like he did for me?"  
  
Arthur was silent for a time, then slowly nodded. "I... I need to know wh-what happened... I-if I actually..."  
  
<"Wait,"> a voice very familiar to Vivi, but unknown to either of her boys cut in. The blunette's eyes widened and she cut a look at Mystery, trying to express the 'what the heck are you doing?!' she was feeling with only her eyes. Mystery ignored her, stepping between Arthur and Lewis, who'd begun approaching when Arthur expressed the desire to know. <"There's no need to jog Arthur's memory like that. I was there and can tell you all exactly what happened."> The disguised kitsune aimed his big doe eyes up at Lewis. <"I shall tell you right now that Arthur was absolutely not at fault. If anything, I'm to blame for not acting faster.">  
  
Her boys were both staring at Mystery in shock, eyes wide and speechless. Mystery took that as consent to continue and sat down. <"Vivi was correct. There was something else in that cave. A parasite, of sorts... and as we all know, Arthur is a magnet for anything nasty. It possessed Arthur, using a cut on his left hand as an entry point. It was like an infection, spreading from the wound so quickly that Arthur had no chance to fight it off before it had forced him to push Lewis... And it likely would have gone after Vivi next if I hadn't acted. I took my true form and tore Arthur's arm off."> Mystery sighed. <"I am sorry I wasn't fast enough to protect either of you.">  
  
"...y-y-y-you... the- the r-reason I'm-," Arthur managed, staring wide-eyed at Mystery.  
  
<"Trauma can cause adverse reactions in the brain, but subconsciously, you felt I was a threat. I did what I had to do to save you and Vivi, but I cannot blame you for your fear, Arthur. It took much of my magic to prevent you from dying on the way to the hospital and to keep Vivi stable enough to not crash the van."> He turned to Lewis, then, laying down. <"Lewis, if you must take your revenge on someone, let it be me for being too slow to save you from the true monster in the cave.">  
  
Lewis' feet settled on the ground, the flames that formed his hair calming. "No. I was wrong. No one was to blame." He sighed, his living face replacing the skeletal one yet again. "I really should have known better than to think Arthur could actually hurt me. I just... I could only remember that look on his face as I fell. I'm sorry, Art." A crack had formed in Lewis' anchor, tears falling from the ghost's eyes as he spoke.  
  
Arthur swallowed, climbing to his feet. "W-we are so talking about the t-talking d-dog thing later," he said, then seemed to swallow any fears he may have had as he tromped past Mystery and straight to Lewis. The ghost edged back slightly, but Arthur wasn't having it, wrapping Lewis in a tight bearhug. "God, I m-missed you..." the mechanic said, resting his head against Lewis' chest. "I sh-should have known that s-something bad had ha-happened to you... that you wou-wouldn't have l-left Vi alone like th-that..."  
  
Vivi tuned them out for now, glaring at Mystery with her hands on her hips. "What the hell? You forced me to keep you a secret all these years, then out yourself like that?" she demanded.  
  
<"I'm sorry, Vivi. I know. I would have liked the secret to remain as well, but I couldn't hold my tongue any longer. Arthur and Lewis deserved to know the truth. I should have said something long ago... but honestly, I hadn't guessed Lewis would return as a wraith. I thought Arthur would have given up in time,"> the kitsune said quietly, directing his voice at only her, but Vivi wasn't having it.  
  
"Oh, so if Lew hadn't shown up, you would have let Artie continue to run himself into the ground, Mystery?! He wouldn't have stopped until either he died or I put my foot down! And I probably wasn't going to! I'm selfish, Mystery! We were doing what I loved and Arthur was completely on board for once, so you think I was going to notice when I wasn't noti-... oh god, I didn't even-..." Vivi trailed off, realizing that her memory issues had been more severe than she'd thought. She hadn't even noticed how bad Arthur was running himself into the ground. He was a shit actor and _she hadn't noticed._ Why hadn't she? She wasn't that self-absorbed, was she?  
  
"...Vi?" Arthur's voice cut into her panicked, frantic thoughts and she looked up at him, wide-eyed. "I-it was my fault. I didn't want to stop, so I... I used your memory issues a-against you... I'm s-sorry..." he whispered, clutching at his robotic arm. He looked on the verge of tears and Vivi didn't know what to say.  
  
She still couldn't remember the hours lost to her mind turning off. She felt betrayed, but at the same time, she understood and she couldn't imagine she'd have acted any differently in Arthur's shoes. If it had been her instead of Arthur... It wouldn't have mattered which boy was missing and which had their memory of the other taken. She wouldn't have wanted to pause in her search, either. She sighed. "Okay. I get it, I do. I can't say I'd have acted differently. But now I'm going to have to demand you take a nap, Artie. And you, Lew, we're not leaving you here in your cool as fuck mansion. We're going home," she said, absolutely putting her foot down. "And yes, Artie, we'll talk about the talking dog thing later. Since he's decided to out himself, he better be willing to tell everything." She cut the not-dog another unimpressed look and he had the grace to look sheepish again.  
  
"That's not a problem. I didn't want to stay here with only my Deadbeats for company, anyway," Lewis said, grinning as the mansion faded, compacting into a pink orb that raced to his anchor and was absorbed into it.  
  
"O-okay, that was cool," Arthur whispered, and Lewis shot him a smug look before scooping the blond up. Arthur yelped, arms flying to wrap around Lewis' neck. "Lew! P-put me dow- down!"  
  
"Nope. You looked like you were about to fall over. Vi, you drive, I'm going to make sure Art gets some sleep."  
  
Arthur's eyes bugged. "Wh-what?! No! I'll s-sleep, p-promise! L-lew drives, th-though!" he cried, flailing. Lewis and Vivi both cracked up, the blunette not insulted at all.  
  
After all, some things never changed.

**Author's Note:**

> And then the events of Hellbent and The Future happen, except Lewis is driving the van instead of Arthur. When the van breaks down, Lewis just ghost powers it and keeps driving. Shiromori has a tougher time with Lewis and Lance helping in the fight right from the start. Mystery doesn't get stabbed protecting Vivi and she doesn't get cut because Lewis puts up a wall of fire, stopping Shiro from getting any ideas after Mystery and Vivi spare her. Also, no Murder Mystery because things go much better with Lewis around from the start.


End file.
